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Giving backMayor Bill Finch obtained more than $20 million in concessions.He proposed an additional $1.6 million, and the City Council increased that to $2 million. Laborers' International Union of North America agreed its 80 members would each take 6.5 furlough days.The fire union, 14 Teamsters and Finch's non-union staff concessions total: $702,437.

That's technically the position Mayor Bill Finch's administration is in.

The 2013-14 fiscal year ends June 30. But the mayor and his staff haven't obtained about two-thirds of the $2 million worth of concessions that were supposed to balance the current year's budget.

And, observers say, though not impossible, it will be challenging for labor leaders to finalize a deal, explain it to rank-and-file members and hold a vote before June ends.

In late December, LIUNA agreed that its 80 members would each take 6.5 furlough days. LIUNA, plus the fire union, 14 Teamsters and Finch's non-union staff, are so far the only groups out of around a dozen to agree to givebacks. Their concessions total $702,437.

So Finch is getting ready to send employees on permanent summer vacations, right?

Not necessarily.

Asked Thursday about layoffs, Adam Wood, Finch's chief of staff, said, "We believe we will be able to negotiate agreements with all of the outstanding (unions) in the very near future."

Wood also said the administration would end the fiscal year with a balanced budget, but again, no mention of layoffs.

Little time to talk

Various union representatives gave mixed information about the status of negotiations.

"We have not had any recent discussions with the Finch administration regarding contractual concessions," said Anna Montalvo, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 130 public facilities employees.

NAGE member Banjed "Benji" Labrador, who recently unsuccessfully challenged Harrison in the union's elections, said, "To be honest with you, we get very little information from our union president.

"We really don't know what his game is behind closed doors with the city," Labrador said. "(And) there isn't enough time right now to give us information."

The protracted nature of the concessions talks has raised questions about whether there was a real need for the givebacks and about whether Finch, who faces re-election in 2015, is willing to play hardball, if necessary, to achieve them.

"I have a problem with the whole process," said Councilman Rick Torres, R-130, the lone Republican elected last November to the Democratic-majority City Council. "They put it in to balance the budget, then hope to accomplish the task in a year. ... It's not real."

Finch, a Democrat elected in 2007, obtained more than $20 million in concessions during his first term. So when he proposed an additional $1.6 million during last spring's budget process, and the council increased that to $2 million, union members grumbled enough was enough.

Last June, City Hall suggested most employees -- except for emergency personnel -- take 6.5 furlough days over the course of the year.

Early in his tenure, Finch showed little patience for dragging out negotiations. In December 2008, the mayor issued layoff notices to 51 members of the National Association of Government Employees, which represents about 570 members, to force the union to the table.

Furloughs, not layoffs

This time around it appears the administration is going out of its way to avoid such tactics and instead slowly strike deals in which both sides can claim a victory.

LIUNA members, for example, were allowed to take half of their furlough days between January and this month, and the balance over the upcoming fiscal year.

In the case of both fire and police, the concessions were wrapped into a new contract. However, the police union voted down the deal in May and it is now in arbitration.

There also has not been any tough rhetoric out of the administration. Wood, as he has at other points this year, on Thursday emphasized the mayor's office understands how much has been asked of workers.

"We value and appreciate that," Wood said. "It is certainly not easy to do on a repeated basis."

Bromley said she does not want to see city employees laid off and argued the mayor might be less willing to take that action because of depleted staffing.

When some City Council members recently suggested a hiring freeze for 32 vacancies, Tom Sherwood, Finch's budget chief, said the mayor has eliminated 225 jobs since taking office and is slow to fill openings.

"You still have a lot of offices that are forced to go bare bones," Bromley said.

At the same time, Bromley said, "If our union finds other unions will be exempt, we're not going to be happy. We were given an ultimatum -- everybody's going to go through this or face layoffs. If that proves not true ... our union would look at him (the mayor) next time and say, `Fine, we'll hold off like everybody else.' "

Coming up

with the money

While Wood said the administration has aggressively pursued deals with the various bargaining units, ex-Mayor John Fabrizi, who is retiring from helming the city's adult education office to explore challenging Finch in the 2015 Democratic primary, said he spoke throughout the year with union officials and never got that impression.

"Which tells me there must have been other monies built into the budget to cover that," Fabrizi said. "Obviously, we're near the end of the fiscal year. Where is the difference coming from?"

When LIUNA and the city struck a bargain in December, the mayor's office said there was a way to count the furlough days used in the 2014-15 fiscal year toward the current year's budget. Wood indicated Thursday that deals struck in the coming weeks could be counted, as well.

Torres said there is no question that, if the total $2 million in concessions are not finalized by June 30, Sherwood will come up with the money, somehow.